Heartsong
by indelibleink13
Summary: Helena Wells is a doctor, trying to make a name for herself in 1868 Colorado Springs. AU, inspired by Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman.
1. New in Town

**A/N: So, this story has been running around in my head for a while now. Clearly, this is inspired by Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman. I thought the characters lined up pretty well between the two shows. If you're familiar with both worlds, you'll see that I took some liberties with characters and plotlines but that's why they call it alternate universe. ;) You'll have to let me know if I did them justice. Please review and let me know what you think. I have a decent idea of where I'm going, but input is always appreciated! :)**

**Disclaimer: None of the characters belong to me, I'm just making them sing and dance a bit. **

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The train tracks formed a border that ran along one side of the town. As the train pulled into the station, the engine's smokestack puffed out a cloud of smoke, leaving no doubt in anyone's mind that this was a machine of the modern era. There were some buggies lined up beside the station; their drivers waiting expectantly for passengers. Helena looked out her window at the gathering crowd-she felt equally nervous and excited. Maybe she was a pinch more nervous than excited, although she would never let her new neighbors know that.

As Helena stepped down from the train she realized her traveling dress was a bit more formal than what the women around her were wearing. She made a mental note to send a telegram to have some of her more casual pieces sent from Boston. "Ms. Wells!" The sound of her name being shouted broke Helena out of her sartorial reverie.

"Mrs. Cooper! Thank you so much for meeting me here," Helena walked over to the older woman, Charlotte Cooper.

"Call me Charlotte. I remember what it was like when I first showed up to this wasteland called Colorado Springs," Charlotte chuckled as she picked up two of Helena's bags. "Luckily I had my husband with me, so we could kinda muddle through the first years together. Are your trunks in one of the storage cars?"  
The change in subject did not escape Helena's attention, but she decided not to push the subject with her new friend. "Yes, but I told the porter to just have them sent over to your boarding house. I hope that wasn't too forward of me."

Charlotte smiled warmly at Helena, "Not at all, not at all. Saves me the backache of cartin' those things around. Let's go get you settled in to your room. I bet you could use a warm bath and a clean bed, hmm?"

***  
A couple hours, a bath, and a change of clothes later Helena found herself in the common room of Charlotte's boarding house. She had brought a book and writing materials, preparing to write her first letter from Colorado to her mother back in Boston. She hoped to impress upon her expatriate British mother that her daughter was not simply going through a phase in wanting to move out to the frontier.

_"Helena G. Wells, you cannot be serious about this Colorado business. I know you are upset about losing the practice, but this is a might drastic don't you think? Maybe you should take this as a sign to give up practicing medicine and focus on your societal connections."  
"Mother, I know you disapprove of my choice but it is __**my **__choice to make! You might not want to see more of this country, but I do! I do see this as an opportunity, just not the same kind as you. I hope you have enough faith in me to trust my decision."_

That last "conversation" with her mother had left a bitter taste in Helena's mouth. It had also made her more determined to prove to her mother that she could make it outside the confines of their privileged east coast life.

"What's runnin' through that big-brained head of yours Ms. Wells?"

"Please, all my friends call me H.G."

"All right then, H.G. just what are you thinking about?"

Clearing her throat and mind H.G. responded, "I was just thinking about my next steps here. Any ideas?"

Charlotte hesitated just long enough to make H.G. think that her hostess did not quite believe what she had said. "Well, we need to go to Arthur's store and tell him that the ad for town doctor has been answered. While we're there we can pick you up some basic supplies that you're gonna need. I take it that you'll be wantin' your own place soon enough. Then…well, by then we'd better be ready to answer some questions 'cause folks around here are gonna be plenty curious about a lady doctor."

Helena shook her head in disbelief at Charlotte's last statement. "I would have thought people were a little more open to the unconventional out here in the rough-and-tumble west. That's part of the reason I left Boston. After my father's death, his patients left our office because they didn't trust me to run it on my own. I worked with him for 7 years! I don't know if they thought he was just feeding me diagnoses all those years or what."

"Yes and no. Some rules are more flexible out here, you'll find that's especially true at Hank's saloon. Others are still as strong as ever, including women doctors not being typical. The only doctoring women do out here is as a midwife. If you don't need a baby delivered you either go to Jake the barber or you go feet first in a pine box."

Taking a deep breath to calm her nerves, H.G. spoke with a confidence that she was not entirely sure she felt. "I'll just have to change their minds then."

Arthur Nielsen's General Store was a far cry from the shops that Helena was used to. If only her friends from Beacon Hill could see her now. They would hate the amount of dust being tracked in and out of the store for a start. The lack of ready-made clothing would also be quite the disappointment. She chuckled to herself thinking about the looks that would be plastered on their faces.

She made her way over to the notice board on the far end of the shop. A sign stating NO INDIANS ALLOWED sat propped on top of the notices. Being ever impulsive, H.G. took the sign down along with the town doctor ad.

"Ma'am, let's just leave that sign where it belongs okay?" A Union soldier said as he took the sign out of H.G.'s hands and put it back from where it came.

Just then H.G. heard two sounds. The first being the squeaking of the store's door. The second being the sharp crack of splitting wood as a tomahawk cleaved the returned sign in two.

Standing in the doorway was one of the oddest sights that H.G. had ever seen in her life. One of the resident Indians was standing next to a woman. Not just any woman either, she was probably the most striking woman Helena had ever seen. It wasn't just her height, the unruly curly hair, or even the emerald green of her eyes. Eyes that at the moment were sparking with anger. No, the most remarkable aspect of this woman was the buckskin pants and shirt she was wearing. Helena enjoyed wearing a pair of trousers every now and again, but she had never seen a white woman in Indian garb, let alone male Indian attire.

It was also clear from her stance that this stunning woman had been the one that threw the tomahawk. She straightened up and walked over to retrieve her weapon. She gave the soldier a dismissive glance that made him think twice about reaching for his revolver. Then turned her head and gave Helena a curt nod before pulling the ax out of the wall and walking out of the store with her Indian friend in tow.

"Who was that?" Helena asked Charlotte as soon as the women climbed into their buggy.

"That. That was Myka Bering. You're not the only woman around here making the town…shall we say, interesting?" Charlotte's response was light, but she frowned slightly as she stared off in the direction that Myka had gone.

As Charlotte got the team started back towards the boarding house Helena smirked, "I do believe proper introductions are in order."

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**That's it so far! I'm trying to make this one feel more episodic (like a TV show), so some of the endings might seem a bit odd. Let me know if that's too jarring.**


	2. Find a Way

**A/N: So, this chapter might feel a little slow but I want to establish the town and Helena before getting into fluffy stuff. Charlotte is still alive...for now. Muahahaha! Let me know what you think!**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing and have taken gross liberties with all characters and stories involved. Enjoy! ;)**

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In the first few weeks after answering the notice for town doctor, Helena had seen zero patients. Oh, she had tried to help people. The man who showed up in the middle of town with a broken arm, the little girl who so obviously needed glasses; she even tried to help Artie when she saw that his back was giving him problems while lifting items at his store. Nobody heeded her advice. Nobody sought out her expertise.

"I hate to say it H.G., but I told ya folks here would need time to adjust to a lady doctor. It's barely been a month. We've had droughts that last longer than that!" Charlotte did her best to remind her charge that Colorado was not Massachusetts.

"I know what you said! I had just hoped..." Helena ran her hand over her face. The exhaustion of running uphill was starting to weigh on her. "I don't know. I guess I had hoped for a new beginning."In the past month she had begun to wonder whether her mother wasn't right and moving out to parts unknown was a fool's errand. It was only her mile-wide stubborn streak that kept her feet planted in her new home.

A loud bang announced the arrival of a desperate group in the boarding house. Charlotte and H.G. ran out of the parlor to see who had entered so noisily. The sight before them was chaotic- two men carried a young woman on a makeshift gurney and they all had panic in their eyes. The lead man started shouting in a language that neither Charlotte nor H.G. understood, but his intent to find help for the woman was clear. "Swedes," Charlotte mumbled under her breath. The women ushered the men into the dining room and to lay the screaming woman on the large community dining table. Charlotte spared one moment's thought for the scrubbing she was going to have to do to her precious table.

Another distressed scream brought everyone's attention back to the matter at hand. The problem became clear as soon as the girl was laid out, her pregnant belly creating quite the silhouette above the table. Charlotte started calling out orders to the men, gesturing wildly when her words did not translate. "Wait. You're the midwife here?!" H.G. exasperatedly asked her friend.

"I'm afraid so," Charlotte shrugged while placing a cool cloth to the young woman's brow.

"Why didn't you say anything when I arrived?" H.G. handed Charlotte a fresh cloth before running to her room and grabbing her ever present medical bag.

"I didn't want to worry you none that I was going to try to steal patients from ya. Now quit asking me questions and help!" The room was a flurry of movement. Charlotte stayed down by the girl's feet, yelling instructions at H.G. and the two men. It eventually became clear to the seasoned midwife that something was wrong, the baby should have come out by now. "Something's wrong! I think...I think it's facin' the wrong way!"

"Let me see!" H.G. quickly moved down next to Charlotte. Putting her hands on the young woman's stomach, H.G. could feel that the baby was in fact turned upside down. "I'm going to have to get in there. Charlotte, take this knife and pour that alcohol on it and be ready with those cloths, there's going to be a lot of blood. You two, stand back!" H.G. poured a bit of chloroform on another cloth and held it up to the girl's face. Her screams subsided, but she did not completely relax.

"Okay, I'm going to make an incision here..." The rest of her speech became whispered instructions more to herself than anyone else in the room. Occasionally, H.G. would ask Charlotte to wipe soak up some of the blood. H.G. had one of the men reapply the chloroform once, since she did not want the girl to go completely unconscious. In what seemed like mere moments, H.G. pulled the baby from his mother and handed him to Charlotte.

"He's not breathing!" Charlotte screamed.

"Slap him!"

"What?!"

"Slap. Him!" H.G. yelled as she turned back to the mother and the business of closing her back up.

Charlotte did as she was told and the baby's cries filled the dining/operating room. The relief was almost palpable. Charlotte shared a smile with H.G., "I don't think you'll be hurtin' for patients anymore Doc."

Charlotte was right. Mostly. People did start coming to the boarding house to see Doctor Wells, but they were mostly Swedes who had heard what she had done for one of their own or girls from Hank's saloon. Believing whole-heartedly in the Hippocratic Oath Helena never turned anyone away, but she did question her clientele.

"Jake won't tend to 'foreigners and Indians' and the girls are too embarrassed to go to him. I guess that makes you a Doctor on the fringe!" Charlotte chuckled smiling warmly at H.G. across the kitchen table. "Listen Doc, you wanted patients and you have some. Be grateful. This is a good way for you to build up your...what did you call it? Base! To build up your base of clients!"

"I suppose you're right. If I expect to find my own way here, I shouldn't look a gift horse in the mouth. Of course, dentistry was never my strong suit." A small smile graced Helena's mouth as she tried to temper her need to see things done swiftly and efficiently.

The next day as H.G. walked through town one of Hank's girls approached her. "Hey Doc. Could you look at something for me?"

"Sure Ms. ..."

"Kelly. Kelly Hernandez."

"All right Ms. Hernandez, what seems to be the problem?"

"You can just call me Kelly, Doc. And I can't tell you out here. It's...private." Kelly looked down and shuffled her feet. H.G. thought it was endearing that a woman who worked in the saloon could still be bashful about such things."Will ya just come back to my room at the saloon?"

Helena considered herself a forward thinking woman, but she had to admit that even she hesitated to join Kelly in Hank's establishment. "Once more unto the breach," she said to herself as she squared her shoulders and made her way through the saloon doors.

Kelly's room was sparse to say the least. There was a wash stand and basin in one corner, a trunk in the other, and her bed took up the wall opposite the window.

"All right. Take a seat on the bed please. Now, what seems to be the trouble Kelly?"

A few minutes later as they stood just inside the door to Kelly's room H.G. instructed, "Remember, out this salve on it twice a day. And no...activities...for two weeks."

"Not sure how Hank is going to feel about that," Kelly winced as she thought about her hard nosed boss.

Without a word, Helena walked out to the main bar and approached the owner. "Kelly will not be working for the next two weeks. She's under doctor's orders."

Hank leaned over the bar and sneered, "If she doesn't work, she can't stay here."

"Well, if you want to be responsible for an epidemic then be my guest. I could use the income." H.G. smirked and turned from the stunned man as she made her way across the room.

A man stuck his leg out, blocking her way. "Hold on honey. If Kelly ain't workin' then somebody needs to take her place." He stood up and was flanked by two other barflies. "I think I'll take that payment now."

"I believe the lady was just on her way out," Myka Bering's voice rumbled over the growl coming from the wolf standing on point beside her.

Before Helena could speak up, one of the men moved to strike at the animal. It turned out to be a foolish move because he found his arm caught between the steel trap jaws. His scream of pain seemed to spur the two other men in to action. One picked up a chair and swung at Myka, who ducked and delivered a swift elbow strike to the man's mid-section. He doubled over and stumbled to the floor while his partner took the opportunity to draw his pistol. Myka kicked the gun out of his hand, but the kick pulled her off balance allowing the guy to get a punch in that sent her toppling over the bar. Recovering quickly she hopped back over and landed a solid uppercut, lifting the man off his feet before he landed with a thud on the saloon floor. While the wolf's snarl kept anybody from looking to continue the fight, Myka grabbed Helena's hand and rushed her out onto the street. They didn't stop walking until they reached the buggy where Charlotte sat. Myka grabbed Helena about the waist and helped lift her into the front seat. "Go, Charlotte! Please, I'll explain later!"

Helena looked back over her shoulder, mouthed a 'Thank You', and just had time to extend her hand for Myka to hold for a second before the cart started rolling.

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**I promise Myka won't always just show up at the end. Cross my heart!**


End file.
